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This year's 41st
edition of the Trofeo Luigi Fagioli took place last
weekend and record times were set on the difficult and
demanding 4.1 km hillclimb course as Italian specialist
sportscar constructor Osella once more swept the board at
the front.
The Trofeo Luigi Fagioli is one of Italy's
most famous and enduring hillclimb challenges. The event,
dedicated to the memory of the famous
Marchigiano racing driver Luigi Fagioli, started life four
decades ago making use of a technically demanding stretch of
the road that connected Gubbio with Perugia. Today
the Trofeo Luigi Fagioli features blisteringly fast
straight road sections and tight, climbing hairpin bends.
The first event took place in 1966 and was won by Clemente
Ravetto at the wheel of a Ferrari who completed the 5 km
course in 2.36 minutes, at an average speed of 119.463 km/h.
The late 1960s saw the leading Italian racing machines
taking to the fast track (which switched location after the
second edition saw a tragic accident that deemed the
original course unsafe) including representation from
Abarth, Alfa Romeo (including the TZ, SZ, Giulia SS) and
Ferrari. Other mouthwatering cars to scream up the track in
those early days included the Lancia Flamina Zagato, while
foreign representation came most notably from Porsche who
won the second edition in 1967 (and took a further win a
decade later). After Ferrari won the 3rd edition in 1968,
Alfa Romeo won the next two (1969 and 1970) before Chevron
and March ruled the roost for the next three years. The year
after (1974) saw the specialist hillclimb constructors
moving in and Osella grabbed outright honours that year,
starting a trend that would see the tiny firm taking 8 wins
out of the next 9 editions. Osella then took a further 16
wins up to this year which saw that trend continuing. That
brings Osella to 26 wins out of 46 editions to date, with
only three wins for Lucchini breaking their dominant sweep
in the last 20 years.
The 5 km Trofeo Luigi Fagioli road course was reduced
to 4 km in 1988, while in 2001 three temporary chicanes were
inserted to help slow the racing cars down, although these
were removed just two years later.
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This year's 41st edition of the Trofeo Luigi Fagioli
took place last weekend and record times were set on
the difficult and demanding 4.1 km hillclimb. Above:
Mauro Rampini powers his Osella up the course. |
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The quickest GT2 type car up the climb was the
Ferrari 360 Modena of Stefano Pierdomenico, who was
18.66 seconds off the best Gruppo GTM time set, but
still however third overall in the class. |
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Second place overall this year went to Cristian
Merli, driving an Osella-Honda PA21, who missed the
top slot by just 3.03 seconds. |
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This year Italian pilot Simone Faggioli made it a
hat trick of wins overall in the Trofeo Luigi
Fagioli, following up his victories on this
hillclimb in 2001 and 2002, as he powered up the
hill in 3:31.76 at the wheel of his Class CN
Osella-Honda PA21. |
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Franco Cinelli powers up the 41st Trofeo Luigi
Fagioli hillclimb, an event which is one of Italy's
most famous and enduring racing challenges. |
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The fastest ever edition was in 1998 when Tschager, at the
wheel of a Lucchini-BMW, swept up the course at a blistering
average speed of 143.785 km/h.
This year Italian pilot Simone Faggioli made it a hat trick
of wins overall in the Trofeo Luigi Fagioli,
following up his victories on this hillclimb in 2001 and
2002, as he powered up the hill in 3:31.76 at the wheel of
his Class CN Osella-Honda PA21. Second place overall went to
Cristian Merli, also in a similar machine, but who missed
the top slot by 3.03 seconds while the final podium slot
went to Fabrizio Fattorini - the winner of the 2003 edition
- who was just over a second further back, making it a
crushing 1-2-3 finish for the rapid Osella-Honda PA21.
In the GTM Class Piero Nappi went fastest up the 4.1 km
climb in a JMB Racing-built Ferrari 550 Maranello, a car
which has previously see use in the FIA GT and Italian GT
Championships. He was 9.15 seconds ahead of Marco Gramenzi
(Chrysler Viper) and the quickest GT2 type car, the Ferrari
360 Modena of Stefano Pierdomenico, who was 18.66 seconds
off the best GTM time. In the E1 Italia Class Eugenio
Molinari, driving a former Italian Superturismo factory-run
Alfa Romeo 155 GTA beat Marco Iacoangeli (BMW 320) by just
0.54 of a second. Fulvio Giuliani (Lancia Integrale Evo) was
third. The final two classes were open to FIA GpN and GpA
machinery.
41st Trofeo Luigi Fagioli - Final Results (aggregate of 2
run's times)
Gruppo CN: 1. Faggioli (Osella PA 21 Honda) in 3'31"76;
2. Merli (Osella PA 21 Honda) + 3"03; 3. Fattorini (Osella
PA 21 Honda) + 4"12; 4. Cinelli (Osella PA 20 BMW) + 4"97;
5. Baldi (Osella PA 21 Honda) + 6"18
Gruppo GTM: 1. Nappi (Ferrari 550 Maranello) in
3'50"62; 2. Gramenzi (Chrysler Viper) + 9"15; 3.
Pierdomenico (Ferrari 360 N/GT) + 18"66; 4. Roberto Ragazzi
(Ferrari 360 Challenge) + 20"68; 5. Perini (Porsche 996 GT3)
+ 24"85
Gruppo E1 Italia: 1. Molinaro (Alfa Romeo 155 GTA) in
3'53"68; 2. Iacoangeli (BMW 320) + 0"54; 3. Giuliani (Lancia
Delta I) + 7"23; 4. Pandolfi (Alfa Romeo 155 V6) a 11"42; 5.
Marco Iacoangeli (BMW M3) + 12"06
Gruppo A: 1. Bicciato (Mitsubishi Lancer) in 4'10"11;
2. Crucitti (Peugeot 106 1.6) + 12"92; 3. D'Amico (Renault
Clio RS) + 13"12; 4. Bindi (Peugeot 106 S16) + 14"14; 5.
Spadafora (Peugeot 106 S16) + 14"62
Gruppo N: 1. Ragazzi (BMW M3) in 4'20"23; 2. Buiatti
(Honda Civic Type R) + 5"98; 3. Montanaro (Renault Clio RS)
+ 9"51 4. D'Andrea (Peugeot 206 RC) + 10"67; 5. Chiavaroli
(Citroen Saxo) + 12"47
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